The Side of the Road
by shonen-ai-obsessed
Summary: yaoi Renhoro Ren is driving on the Chinese freeway when he sees an unconcious man on the side of the road. He feels complelled to help him. (not AU)


Disclaimer:

HULLO! There are two authors of this fic, just to give you a heads-up. We both have our own pen names with our own stories, which are mostly yaoi. Wheee yaoi! They are Rayne-kun and SpiritsFlame. Rayne-kun will be known as just Rayne, and SpiritsFlame will be Hikaru. (We might change these names from chapter to chapter) THE HITCHHIKING SCENE BELONGS ENTIRELY TO KIMBOB. WE DID ASK HER IF WE COULD USE IT. PLEASE DO NOT FLAME US, FOR WE ARE ENTIRELY UNCREATIVE AND COULD NOT COME UP WITH A DIFFERENT BEGINNING SCENE. BUT DON'T WORRY, OUR PLOT IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THAN HERS.

Hikaru and Rayne: -bow to Kimbob- All hail Kimbob-sama.

Hey, if you know who are muses are, please review and tell us, because we are convinced that we are the only people who have read these books, and its driving us MAD!

Akkarin: -sweatdrop-

Hikaru: Akkarin doesn't sweatdrop, baka!

Rayne: He does when he's our muse!

Hikaru: -sweatdrop-

Rayne: So YOU can sweatdrop, but he can't?

Hikaru: Well, I'M a real person!

Rayne: So, you're discriminating against fictional characters? What did they ever do to you?

Hikaru: Of course not. I'm just discriminating against people who are not in manga books that are doing manga book things! ...Wait. But I'm not in a manga book.

Sonea: Wow, this is a really heated argument.

Akkarin: Is the partnership finally breaking up? ...YES!

Hikaru and Rayne: -glare- OF COURSE NOT!

Sonea: Why don't you just say the disclaimer?

Hikaru: -points to Rayne- she's doing it.

Rayne: Nu-uh! -points at Sonea- YOU do it!

Sonea: -points at Akkarin- Akkarin?

Akkarin: -points to random guy- Would you care to do the honors?

Random Guy: THEY DON'T OWN SHAMAN KING OR AKKARIN AND SONEA! BUT THEY DO OWN ME! My name is Bob Pickleburg. I live in Pickletown, Pennsylvania. I have brown hair and green eyes and I'm five foot eigh-

Sonea: Um, thank you Bob. Now, Rayne and Hikaru? The story?

Both Rayne and Hikaru: -put hands on SK book- We do hereby solemnly swear not to make our disclaimers and ending longer than the actual story.

Akkarin: -sweatdrop-

Hikaru and Rayne: -falls over- not THAT again!

Akkarin: -raises eyebrow- What are you doing on the floor?

Sonea: THIS IS REALLY GETTING TOO LONG!

Hikaru: Oh, right. -looks guilty-

Rayne: here's the story then.

Chapter One

There was something on the side of the road. Ren might not have noticed it, if it weren't for the flash of blue Ren had glimpsed briefly. There wherever few people on the freeway along with him, so he slowed down to get a better view of the shapeless blob.

As he got he got closer, he began to realize that the "shapeless blob" was in fact, the form of an unconscious man, seeming to have passed out while hitchhiking.

Ren mentally pointed and laughed at the man. What kind of idiot passes out while hitchhiking?

Without really knowing why, he pulled over. He felt compelled to help the man, even though he had no idea who he was. It must have been the man's hair. It was almost the exact same shade as Horohoro, the boy who had had been his friend and secret crush during the shaman fights.

They had all split up after Yoh won, Ren going back to China with his sister, Horo and Pirika going back to live with the Ainu, and so on.

Though, this man couldn't have been Horo. Horohoro would never hitchhike, much less be found unconscious on the side of the road. Horo might have been stupid, but they were both 19 now, there was no way he was that stupid anymore.

Ren cautiously got out of the car and walked over to the man.

The man was lying face down, using his arms as a pillow. Ren recoiled front the stench. This man smelled TERRIBLE. Nevertheless, Ren reached down a gain and poked the man. Now, this was not a light poke. A tao does not "lightly" poke people. This was more of a jab. We are calling it a poke, because we are wanting to create the illusion hat Ren is a kind, gentle human begin and would never hurt a fly. The two authoresses snort at this.

The man groaned. Ren noted that he was, in fact , actually alive. Ren poked him again.

"Nnnhh, go away..." the man grumbled.

Ren felt his tiny bubble of hope pop. Up to that point, Ren had thought that it just might have been Horohoro, but this man's voice was much deeper than his friend's had been.

He poked him again. "Hey, wake up."

"Go away, Ren," the man grumbled and made a shooing motion with his hand.

'How the hell did he know my name?' Ren thought, terrified. He voiced this thought. "You... know my name? HOW THE HELL DO YOU KNOW THAT?" he cried.

The man rolled over to face him. He rubbed his eyes. "...Ren?"

Ren stared dumbfounded at the "man" he hadn't seen for so long. He saw it truly was Horo, but not the Horo he had known. This man, well, boy really he was only 19.. well, er... MALE THAT'S IT! LETS GO WITH THAT! This male had a deeper voice, his hair was slightly darker and longer than it had been,a nd he looked like he had a real bath in days much less shaved. As a result of this, a blue stubble was growing on his chin.

"What the hell happened to you?" Ren cried. "Never, tell me later first get into the car, then talk." As Horo rose to do as Ren said, Ren wrinkled his nose and said," And leave your window open, you smell like shit."

Horo complied, getting in the car and leaving the window open.

"So?" Ren asked expectantly.

"...what?" Horo asked.

Ren twitched. "Well, what the hell happened!"

"Oh, right. Well, I was just... um... traveling, and ," Ren looked at Horo suspiciously, but before he could ask where Horo had been traveling to Horo continued, "there were these really nice people at the airport who asked me if they could have some money so they could get home to their sick mother because they were only a little yen short, and I just gave them about 1000 yen (A/N about 8.45) and then, they gave me this big hug 'cause they were really grateful, ya know? And they ran off and next thing I knew, I had no money! My wallet was gone! "

"Baka..." Ren muttered.

Horo ignored him and continued, "And then, I asked if I could stAy at this hotel there and I said that I didn't have any money, and they said it was fine, but I had to sleep in the lobby. When i woke up, everything but my clothes were gone. So I left the hotel and started walking on this road, and I've been walking here for 3 days!" he blinked. "Or... was it four? Hmmm... Oh, and by the way, you got any food? I haven't eaten since then either. Water would be good also. I found this bottle with orange juice in it on the side of the road a couple of days ago, so I drank that, but I haven't had anything since then..."

Ren eyes practically bulged out of his head. "You drank something you found on the side of the road? That's unsanitary!"

"Well, if its the only drink you've had, or even SEEN in the past few days, ANYthings good."

Ren had to admit that he had a point. "Fine, well, we'll stop at a McDonald's then... (A/N There are McDonalds everywhere. Even in China. We did mention that they were in China, right? yeah.)

"Thank you!" Horo practically screamed. "Ah... to eat food again!"

"...Ow. That HURT." Ren rubbed his ear.

"...Sorry.." Horo looked shamefaced.

They drove in relative silence for a while, but only because Horo felt like he was about to pass out from starvation and didn't want to talk very much.

They pulled up to the drive through window, and Horo practically bought out the restaurant. Well, actually REN practically bought out the restauraunt, seeing as he was the one paying for it, but he didn't really mind...too much.

After Horo had finished inhaling his food, he said, "thanks, I'll pay you back- ...later..."

ren said without thinking, "Naw, its alright. My treat. But. Just. this. Once." he didn't want Horo to get the idea that he would be buying every meal for him.

"So where are we going now?"Horo questioned.

"Home. you smell."

"So... where were you going?" Horo asked, sipping on his soda.

"Oh, just to my fathers funeral. But its not important." (A/N Rayne and Hikaru: DING DONG! The En is dead! Which old En? THE EVIL EN! DING DONG, the evil En is DEAD! -munchkins form the Wiz of Oz start singing along- DING DONG- C'mon fans! Sing along! We know you want to!)

Horo spit out his coke.

"I JUST CLEAnED THIS CAR!"

"Sorry," he said wiping it off, " Your dad's dead? How'd he die?"

"Oh, I killed him," Ren said nonchalantly.

Horo eyes were popping out.. "You WHAT? HOW?"

Ren glared. "Well, it was an accident."

Horo continued to boggle. " How do you ACCIDENTALLY kill someone like EN?"

"Well, it went like this-

FLASHBACK

Ren was training in the yard with his kwan-dao. He twirled and thrusted his weapon in the air, stabbing at imaginary opponents. The imaginary shadow people were the only people he could spar with ever since he had left. He continued his intricate pattern dance for a while; it was what he normally did after he had left Horo, Yoh and the others. He had nothing better to do. He was so involved in this, that he didn't hear the footsteps come up behind him. He twirled around preparing to strike another shadow person when his blade connected with something that wasn't imaginary at all. In fact, it was quite solid, squishy, human, and would probably not be among the living for much longer.

He saw his now dead giant father lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood. He had apparently cut his fathers stomach out. He looked down at the mass of flesh. "...Oops." and reluctantly ceased his training and went to go find Jun.

END FLASHBACK

"Yeah. That's what happened."

Horo digested this for a while. (A/N How come everything with Horo has to do with food?) "...Oh." he said finally. "Well, that's a relief then!"

Ren rolled his eyes. "You're telling me... So, why were you 'traveling'?"

Horo tactfully ignored this. "Well, if you're father's death isn't important, why were you going in the first place?"

""Cause I had to."

"...Then, why aren't you going now?" Horo asked.

"Because I have a guest, and this is a perfect excuse not to go." 'Besides,' he thought, 'its not as important as you. Nothing is.' (A/N Rayne: Awww... Hikaru: you can't 'aw', you wrote it! Rayne: Well, since you wrote that line, its fine that I 'aw'ed. Hikaru: point. Rayne: shouldn't we be getting back to the fic. hikaru: oh. right.)

"So, why were you traveling?" Ren asked once again.

"Oh... no reason. "He said and changed the subject, "So, where's Bason?"

Bason popped out of nowhere. "Greetings, Masters Ren and Horohoro." He bowed.

Kororo also popped out of nowhere. "Kuru?" she said. She bowed to Ren, then, spotting Bason. "Kuuurruuu!" She floated over to Bason and they went into the back seat talking in small voices to each other, which neither Ren or Horo could understand. (A/N they were gossiping about their masters )

Ren tried once more. " Horo. WHY were you traveling?"

Horo looked around frantically for another change of subject. "Uh, Ren, isn't this your exit?"

Ren got into the correct lane. "Yes, but how do YOU know that?"

Horo mentally smacked himself. "Well... ummmm... I have been here before so..."

'...Isn't Japan in the other direction? There shouldn't have been a way that Horo and the others had gone on this freeway when they had come to rescue him' but before he could push Horo any farther, his mansion came into view.

(Insert description of the Tao mansion here. The authoresses haven't seen the episode where it appears, and we don't wan to get weverything messed up, so we're gonna shut up now.)

Ren parked his car. As he was climbing out he said to Horo, "Since everyone is at the funeral, we have the house to ourselves."

Horo gaped. "We have the entire Tao mansion... to ourselves?"

Ren rolled his eyes. "...Yeah."

"AWESOME!"

They entered the large doors at the front of the house.

"Does this make you leader of the family now?" Horo inquired.

"...Does what?"

"You're father dying, baka."

"Oh, right." he paused. "I guess it does." A maniacal grin slowly spread across Ren's face.

The thought, 'oh, god, what have I done?' passed through Horo's head.

they heard a faint ringing throughout the house. "What the hell?" Ren said. "Why is that ringing? It hasn't done that for over four years!"

"Is that-"

"Uh-huh."

"The oracle pager." they said in unison.

Ren led Horo to his room. They were running so fast, Horo had barely any time to marvel at the (A/N Rayne: Hikaru just told me to write here- big house-ness. that is so not a word. Hikaru: i was just thinking out loud! rayne: riiiiiiight. hikaru: continuing) big house-ness.

When they reached reached Ren's room, Horo grinned. it was exactly like he had imagined it. It was black. Black walls, black bed sheets, black carpet, black drapery, black EVERYTHING. There was a weapon rack on the wall with several Chinese weapons on it and things like weapon polish, sheathes, sharpeners, sandpaper for the wood, and several different shaped tops for the kwan-dao. Other than that, it was a pretty plain room. No posters on the walls, no bookshelves. Just a bed, a dresser and weapon things.

Before Ren answered the ringing the oracle pager he ran over to his bead and covered something up with his pillow. Luckily for Ren, Horo forgot all about this after Ren answered the oracle pager. Words flashed across the screen of the pager. They said, "Hey guys! Its Yoh! So Ren, I heard you're father died! Congrats!" ren sweatdropped. Only Yoh would say that. "Oh and I hear Horo's there. Hiiii Horo! So I was wondering if you would come back to Japan for a few weeks. Good! I'm inviting everyone else over too. they'll be getting here soon too. I would teleport over, but I'm kinda busy with all this Shaman King stuff, so I'm gonna send Manta over. He should arrive in three hours to give you time to pack. Oh and Ren? Pack some stuff for Horo cause he doesn't have anything.."

"Typical Yoh. No consideration for anyone else's feeling on the matter."

"I heard that." flashed across the screen. "See ya guys!" and the oracle pager turned off.

Ren turned to Horo who was marveling at his weapon supplies. "Manta is gonna come pick us up in 3 hours, so lets get you some new clothes." he paused. "And a bath. bath first."

He showed Horo to the incredibly large bathroom which was, no surprise, black.

Ren picked out some of his own clothes for Horo to wear until they had gotten him some new ones. Ren looked in dismay at his wardrobe. It was all the same thing: foofy pants and tight shirts. There ws no way Horo would wear these. He blushed at the thought of Horo in one of these shirts. 'He can just wear my pants. He can use his own shirt for the time being.'

Horo emerged from Ren's bathroom. Ren was relieved to see that Horo was wearing a towel, he didn't think he could handle it if Horo had come out wearing nothing.

"Here" Ren through the pants at him. "Put those on."

"Uh.. k. Thanks." and he went back into the bathroom, only to emerge again wearing nothing but Ren's pants (A/N ...and underwear. get your minds out of the gutters.)

Only years and years of practicing facial expression controlled Ren's blush.

Horo, who was unused to walking in foofy pants, tripped over them, landing (of course) onto ren, pushing them both onto the bed.

At that exact moment, Jun walked in the door. "Reeeeeen, why weren't you at-"she looked up and saw the position they were in. A shirtless Horo was sprawled across a blushing Ren on top of Ren's bed. Jun, of course, completely misinterpreted what was going on. She turned around quickly and called over her shoulder, "Don't' worry boys, I didn't see anything you wouldn't want me to see!"

They both sprang off of the bed, nearly knocking each other over in the process.

Alright. picture the reddest red you have ever seen. Multiply this color times 42, and that was the color of both of their faces.

"JUN! Nothing HAPPENED!" Ren exclaimed.

"NO! I just tripped! Ren was loaning me his pants and I just tripped over them cause they're so big and foofy!"

Jun turned around. she did not look as though she believed them.

"Oh, Jun! Do you think we could pick out some clothes for Horo in three hours, cause his got stolen."

Jun looked incredulous. "Why 3 hours?"

"That's when manta is gonna come pick us up so we can go over to Yoh's house."

The oracle pager rang again. "Bring Jun too!"

Ren sighed. "And apparently, you're coming along."

Jun grinned. "Great! Well, you know what this means! Shopping!"

Ren sighed. Even though jun was in her 20's, she still acted like a teenager. Complete with love of shopping.

She grabbed Horo's hand and half-dragged him to a certain part of the house which Ren had never dared enter.

Her personal mall. (A/N Rayne: BUM BUM BUUUUUUUM! hikaru: -sweatdrop- oh, and in case your wondering, yes it does have boy' clothes in it. its a complete clothing store. we don't know why. just cause its crucial to the plot. rayne- ell, not exactly crucial... hikaru: unless we want horo running around shirtless. rayne: -laughs- ren's not complaining.)

She pulled them through the door to her one-bed bedroom (A/N for those of you with your minds in the gutter, that's where it belongs for that implication -cough-BAILONG-cough-) and through another door to another hallway.

As they were running done the hallways, Horo noticed that they were sloping downwards. It must have been in a basement sort of area so it could all fit.

They finally reached the doors to it and Jun pulled the doors open. Horo's mouth dropped.

It was basically a giant Wallmart. Three stories. One story was dedicated to clothes, one to food, and one to electronics. They had arrived on the middle floor which was the clothing section.

Jun continued to drag Horo to the men's section which she had for no particular reason. She pulled him through the section, pulling clothes of the racks in a seemingly random order throwing. Finally at the end of the rack, she stopped outside a changing room with a giant pile of clothes in her hands, and held hem out to Horo. "Here. Try these on."

Ren stared. "ALL of them?"

"Yes, all of them, its not like there's THAT many."

Ren and Horo looked at each other, then back the pile of clothes that she had placed on the floor which was only slightly taller than Horo. (A/N don't wonder about how she carried them all. tiz not important.)

"O...k..." Horo said as he dragged the pile of clothes into the changing room.

Jun turned around and dragged Ren to the chairs by the changing area. "You. Sit. Stay."

"What am I, a dog?" Ren said indignantly.

"Shush." she replied.

So poor Ren was forced to watch Horo model all the clothes, not that he was complaining mind you, that Jun had picked out for him.

What they had ended up with was about 20 different pairs of shorts and matching t-shirts and what Horo had decided to wear currently was almost identical to the outfit Ren had found him in, only a lot cleaner, less ragged, and a lot less SMELLY.

"Now!" she exclaimed. "We need to fix, "she said gesturing at Horo's hair and face, "THAT."

"What's wrong with," he gestured at his face the same way, "THIS?"

"Do you remember the last time you cut your hair?"

"Err..."

"didn't;'t think so. And how about the last time you shaved?"

"Errr..."

"Didn't think so either." and with that, she grabbed his hands again and dragged him off again. She called over her shoulder, "REN! Get the bags!"

Ren reluctantly complied, grumbling about inconsiderate sisters and stupid Ainus.

TBC

Akkarin: Finally! You two have been working on this since early FEBRUARY!

Rayne: You try working with someone over the phone like this!

Hikaru: AND I was grounded from the phone for... -counts on fingers- 3 days for talking on the phone at midnight with Rayne! and it was all your fault!

Rayne: It was somewhat your fault too!

Hikaru: ...shut up

Sonea: Here is a little present for all of you people who are GOING to review. And if you don't review, you've never know what this means. Basically, its a small part of the next chapter.

Authoresses:

Horo, Ren, and Jun's mouths all fell open. Had their jaws not been attached for their faces, they would have been lost forever, for they would have fallen deep to Earth's core. What they saw was-

Sonea: that wasn't very nice. Here, I'll tell you what it was. It was-

Akkarin: -grabs her and puts hand over her mouth-

Sonea: MMMPHMBTT.

Rayne and Hikaru: Thanks Akkarin! See ya in the next chapter! IF YOU REVIEW! -glares at audience-

Hikaru: You BETTER review.

Rayne: You WILL review.

Hikaru: or else.

Sonea: or else what?

rayne: or else they wont get the next chapter, duh.

Hikaru: And they wont know what everyone was so shocked at!

Sonea: It wasmuffled again by Akkarin's hand-

rayne: Thanks again:D

Hikaru: REVIEW.

Rayne and Hikaru: Ja!


End file.
